About This Lesson
Can we rethink the way buildings use energy? John Ochsendorf, an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture at MIT, is working with his students to change the way buildings are made and how they consume energy. Provided by the National Science Foundation.
Introduces the concepts of embodied energy and operating energy. Video is short (4 minutes) and can be used to initiate a discussion on building energy efficiency. But the information is mostly limited to a certain design approach and doesn't promote the understanding of the big picture context. The clip ends by saying that the method was used for energy efficient building in England and South Africa. Why not in the US? What could be done in the US? What could the students and their parents, what could the school district, the city, the state government do?